Don’t Knock New York, and Other Meanings of DKNY

What does DKNY stand for? Once upon a time it was Donna Karan New York, the younger, hipper, streetier sister of the Donna Karan collection.

But that main line is gone now, retired with its founder, and the newish DKNY creative directors, Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow, have been charged with redefining those secondary initials for the future. In their sophomore collection for the label, they took the challenge literally, offering up a finale of possible answers emblazoned on a series of sweatshirts: “Don’t Knock New York,” “Designers Know Nothing Yet” and “Dazed Kids New York.”

In other words: It’s a little ironic and a little self-deprecating, with a dose of municipal boosterism and perhaps a dash of politics. Though when asked if the “Don’t Knock New York” slogan was a covert reference to Senator Ted Cruz’s dismissal of “New York values,” the designers denied it, only to then acknowledge they were “not big fans” of the candidate.

Still, supersize white denim paired with cropped wool jackets with football-player shoulders, a satin viscose and pinstripe pastiche jumpsuit, oily nylon anoraks and aprons over all, were less lighthearted than heavy-handed. (Pinstripes have not been relevant symbols of subversive female aspiration in decades.) Better were boiled wool sweatpants, and a laced-on-the-bias lipstick-red slip dress with the nonchalance of a tee.

“We just want to have fun,” Mr. Osborne and Mr. Chow wrote in their show notes, alluding to Cyndi Lauper, girl bands of decades past and their own attitude. It’s an admirable goal. If only it were realized more effectively in the clothing.